The Runaways

Chapter Three - An Encounter

"Elias, hurry up," Remington calls as he walks ahead of me. A pick up my knife off the ground and jog up to him. It was a stupid idea of me to try and throw a knife at a rabbit, I have managed to stab one before, but that was out of luck. I just hated using the bow an arrow, first off it's an overrated weapon in TV and movies and shit, second off their pretty hard to maneuver.

Remington made me go hunting with him since we hadn't caught anything all day and he didn't want to try stealing anything yet since he had been in town earlier that day. He worried that someone would recognize him and next time he went to go sell something they'd arrest him.

"Are you sure you don't want me to go into town and steal for you? Maybe Reece can come with too, she's good at distractions," I suggest, dreading having to walk around aimlessly until a scrawny animal crosses our path so we can kill and cook it.

"We can't just steal every meal ya'know, we have to do something for ourselves sometimes," Remington says as I jog up to him and walk at his side, "It's too risky too. If we continue to go in and steal we'll get run out of town in no time, just like last time and the time before that. We're staying in this town, I'm tried from moving everywhere."

I let out an annoyed groan, Remington has a point. But I really don't feel like hunting today. I could use a good adrenaline rush though. Running threw the town streets while people chase us screaming for us to but their bread down. Yeah, it's pretty fun compared to this.

We stay quiet as we walk, so our voices don't scare off potential catches. Remington navigates himself quickly and quietly, avoiding stepping on sticks or dead leaves to create any sort of loud sound. Remington is probably one of the best hunters I know. He's quiet and stays focused, he can follow animal tracks and can skin and cook them with his eyes closed. He's surprisingly good at being stealthy for someone as impulsive and reckless as him. And I should know that more than anyone, I was the first in our little group to meet Remington, four years ago. I remember it being in the dead of winter, I was alone back then, I had no place to stay and just wandered around for months and months.

Remington has always been a bit of a mystery to me. He never did talk about himself much or past experiences, his family, what his life was like before the war. He's never even given out his age. When we ask he just shrugs and says he can't remember. Sure telling the time of year is hard now but by the time winters over you can be well aware it's the new year.

Suddenly I'm stopped as Remington raises his arm in front of me to stop my pace. He lowers to the ground and directs me to do so as well. I crouch down next to him trying to look in the same direction is gazed is focused in. But I see nothing.

"What are we—?"

"Shh!" Remington shushes me and we bathe go silent. After a few brief moments we can hear several voices coming our way.

I watch intently as the voices seem to get closer and closer until suddenly a group of three hunters appear out of the brush.

Out of the corner of my eye I can see Remington reach up and grab the black piece of cloth around his neck and pull it up over his nose, covering the lower portion of his face. He flicks the hood of his cloak up to cover the top half. I see him slowly start to stand up to approach them. I reach up grabbing him by the sleeve and pull him back down.

"What are you doing?" I whisper in a scolding tone.

"Relax Eli, I'm just gonna scare them off," Remington whispers back as he pulls away from my grasp and stands up.

"No Remington!" I whisper as he makes his way over to them, "God dammit..."

I watch as they stop as they spot Remington making his way over to them. They scowl at him as he approaches.

"Yes?" One of them asks in an irritated tone.

"I'd like to know what you Three are doing out here," Remington asks as he folds his arms behind his back as he stares at the three men.

"We're hunting dumbass," One of the men replied, "Do you have a problem or something?"

"I think he's a rogue..." A man whispered.

Remington ignored him,"Actually I do, now would it be too much to ask for the three of you to scurry on home?" Remington says as he stands confidently in front of them.

I watch fearfully as one of the men slowly pull out a dagger from behind their back as they stare at Remington.

"Actually," The man with the dagger says, "It would be too much trouble to ask for that," he suddenly reaches out with the dagger and lunges at Remington who grabs his wrist and twists it around behind his back. Remington forced him to his knees as he pulled out his gun and held it to the man's head.

The other two were astonished by Remington's quick action and eye the gun fearfully.

"Now I usually don't ask twice," Remington says in a cheery tone, mocking the men, still holding the one with the dagger while pressing the gun against his head, "But I would really appreciate it if you left,"

"A-Alright man, we'll get out of your hair, j-just let our friend go," One of the men stuttered.

Remington stood back and let the man with the dagger stand up. But before he could walk off Remington took the knife out of his hand and slipped it into his pocket, "I'm gonna hold onto this," He muttered.

The man who was released opened his mouth to argue but the other one stopped him and pulled him back, shaking his head at him.

The three men eyed Remington before turning and heading off the direction they had come from. Once they had left I stood up from where I was crouched down and walked over to Remington.

"Are you insane?!" I scold, "Their gonna go back home and tell everyone that we're here! Then they'll run us out of here!"

"People know where here," Remington said in a calm voice as he began walking in the direction we were earlier, "If people wanted to run us out of here they would've done so already,"

"But--"

"Come on Elias let's head back," Remington says as he pulled down his hood and the cloth he put over his mouth and nose, "if they had been here all the animals must've already been scared off."